People were passing me left and left.

This weekend was a big training weekend for me.  Saturday morning Jeff and I got up and did medium run together.  I ran 7.71(the final distance of my Cupcake Marathon) miles and Jeff ran just over 8.  This past weekend was a recovery week for Jeff, so he was nice enough to hang back with me for the first 5 miles.  The first year that I trained for a marathon we ran together a lot and I really forgot how much I missed that.  I know it was hard for him to slow his pace to mine, but it was very motivating for me, as I have not ran that "long" of a distance since the marathon.  It felt great to make it past the 4 mile mark and look forward to adding this distance to my weekly runs (especially now that I don't work weekends!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

After the run, we headed out to do an open water swim.  I have a sprint tri coming up the second weekend in April, and really needed the practice.  The last open water swim I did attempted, I freaked out a bit.  I did appox 900 meters and overall it really went well.  After I got out of the water Jeff was still swimming so I took a few shots of the man made lake that we went to.

After the swim we came home, got ready and then drove 3 1/2 hours to a family birthday party.  It was nice to see some family and relax for a few hours.  On Sunday we had planned on doing a 54 mile bike ride (my idea.....) together.  Since it was a rest week for Jeff I asked him if he would hang with me on the ride, which, for the most part he kindly did.  The ride was a Blue Bonnet ride.  I had some fantasy that Jeff and I would be riding next to each other, chatting and laughing and stopping to take pictures in the fields of these flowers.  

THAT DID NOT HAPPEN.............

Jeff did ride with me, but so did thousands of other people.  Plus I am not used to all the rules of these organized bike rides (runners are not this strict!) Like when you pass, you have to pass on the left, and you have to say on your left as you are passing.  The first 15 miles or so went fairly well.  At one point Jeff got ahead of me, and I was passing people like crazy to catch up to him.  He would see me coming, and pass another group of people and then look back at me and grin.  I knew he was trying to push me so I just kept on going.  I even passed him and did a little "on your left" as I did.  We rode for a couple more miles then came up to the first rest stop.  I told Jeff I wanted to stop so I could get some water (I can't take my hand off the bike yet to drink) and to do a little adjusting to my shorts.  We made a quick stop and then got back on the road.  Again, it started off well, but then, let's just say, things started getting very sore!  I powered through to the next rest stop, grateful for the break.  On and Jeff beat me there by like 15 or more minutes.  Let's just say the rest of the ride went this way.  The first couple of miles after each rest went well, and then the soreness would come back.  I just have to say that in no way was I in this much pain during either one of my marathons!  After the last rest stop, I had to dig way down deep to get back on my bike.  And that is when it started, people were passing me, and passing me, and passing me.  Jeff stayed with me for the first couple mins, when he informed me that we were going 11 miles/hr.  I told him to just go ahead because I could not go any faster.  What was frustrating is that it wasn't my endurance or cardiovascular fitness that was holding me back, but the EXTREME pain I was in from neck to toe!

So Jeff went on and I powered through, thinking to myself I probably shouldn't have jumped from 12 miles, to 25, to 44, to 54.  That's it, other than a couple of times on the trainer that is the amount of experience I have had on the back.  I think I will build up the mileage a little slower from now on.  I went a little faster, only because I knew the faster I went, the sooner I could get off the seat!  

With about 1 mile left, I turned a corner and there was Jeff, pulled off to the side of the road waiting to ride it in with me.  That gave me the last little boost of motivation I needed to keep on pedaling.  I am glad I did this, as it made me push myself to do something I wouldn't normally do.  And isn't that why we do this, to push ourselves beyond our limits.  At least one of the reasons anyway.

Despite that fact that this wasn't the leisurely ride I thought it would be, we did manage a few pictures.

Happy Training!